Introduction : out of the shadows -- From Freshwater to Oxford -- The most ingenious book that ever I read in my life -- Monumental achievements -- Meanwhile ... -- From Hackney to the high seas -- Of spring and secretaryship -- A mission of gravity -- Halley, Newton and the comet -- Not fade away -- To command a king's ship -- Legacies -- Coda : how to do science.

Summary

Although Newton is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientists of all time and the father of the English scientific revolution, John and Mary Gribbin uncover the fascinating story of Robert Hooke and Edmond Halley, whose scientific achievements neatly embrace the hundred years or so during which science as we know it became established. They argue persuasively that, even without Newton, science would have made a great leap forward in the second half of the seventeenth century, headed by two extraordinary figures, Hooke and Halley. --amazon.com.